[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 39, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 39CFR501.2]

[Page 174-175]
 
                        TITLE 39--POSTAL SERVICE
 
                 CHAPTER I--UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE
 
PART 501--AUTHORIZATION TO MANUFACTURE AND DISTRIBUTE POSTAGE METERS--Table 
of Contents
 
Sec. 501.2  Manufacturer qualification.

    Any concern wanting authorization to manufacture and/or lease 
postage meters for use by licensees under Domestic Mail Manual P030 
must:
    (a) Satisfy the Postal Service of its integrity and financial 
responsibility;
    (b) Obtain approval of at least one meter model incorporating all 
the features and safeguards specified in Sec. 501.6;
    (c) Have, or establish, and keep under its supervision and control, 
adequate production facilities suitable to carry out the provisions of 
Secs. 501.15 through 501.21 to the satisfaction of the Postal Service. 
The production facilities must be subject to unannounced inspection by 
representatives of the Postal Service. If the provider's production 
facilities are located outside the continental United States, the 
provider will be responsible for all reasonable and necessary travel-
related costs incurred by the Postal Service to conduct the inspections. 
Travel-related costs are determined in accordance with Postal Service 
Handbook F-15, Travel and Relocation. At its discretion, the Postal 
Service may continue to fund routine inspections outside the continental 
United States as it has in the past, provided the costs are not 
associated with particular security issues related to a manufacturer's 
product, or with the start-up or implementation of a new plant or of a 
new or substantially changed manufacturing process.
    (1) When conducting an inspection outside the continental United 
States, the Postal Service will make every effort to combine the 
inspection with other inspections in the same general geographic area in 
order to enable affected manufacturers to share the costs. The Postal 
Service team conducting such inspections will be limited to the minimum 
number necessary to conduct the inspection. All air travel will be 
contracted for at the rates for official government business, when 
available, under such rules respecting class of travel as apply to those 
Postal

[[Page 175]]

Service representatives inspecting the facility at the time the travel 
occurs.
    (2) If political or other impediments prevent the Postal Service 
from conducting security evaluations of meter manufacturing facilities 
in foreign countries, Postal Service approval to distribute meters 
produced in those facilities may be suspended until such time as 
satisfactory inspections may be conducted.
    (d) Have, or establish, and keep under its active supervision and 
control adequate facilities for the control, distribution, and 
maintenance of meters and their replacement or secure disposal or 
destruction when necessary.

[60 FR 30726, June 9, 1995, as amended at 67 FR 69479, Nov. 18, 2002; 67 
FR 71843, Dec. 3, 2002]